The Christmas Tree In The Ditch

     Here's a poem I just posted in my blog, but I never get a lot of views.

The Christmas Tree In The Ditch

You were loyal to us during your short stay
And now we have tossed you carelessly away
I can barely look at you lying there
No ornaments or star cold and bare

Tonight I'll probably hear your cry in the cold
Left to sail away on a small ice floe
You want to come back inside with the family
Beside the fireplace so majestically

A rare Virginia snow the night we decorated ye
And laughed and ate and watched TV
And the guests all remarked how this might be the best
But now you're tossed away like a worthless pest

And tomorrow the giant metal monster will arrive
And with steel tongs will pick you up and toss you inside
And you'll be gone from your bed in the ditch
Forced out in the cold like a lonely snitch

You were so good to us for a half a month or so
While we ate Macadamias and cookie dough
You trusted us like a true blue friend
But we weren't so loyal in the end

With a flashlight I checked you one last time
And found a hidden ornament amongst your twine
You wanted to take it as a souvenir
Of your happiness with your new family here

At least it won't rain I tell myself
The ditch will be dry though not as swell
As that spot by the manger and roaring fire
Now your Christmas magic is New Year's mire

Stop staring at me I can't take it anymore
I want to run outside and pull you in the door
But you can't go back to the past again
And next Christmas we'll have a new fair weather friend

I wish I was as loyal a friend as you
Your heart is pure your intentions true
Your fir branches have the sanctity
Of the legendary Holly and Ivy

Next year I may buy a live Christmas tree
And plant it next to the two already there you see
It pains me much to see a loyal friend
Lying in that ditch a bitter end

I enjoyed it. 

The language in these last two stanzas twisted the connotations for me a bit. Perhaps the proximity and juxtaposed use of the phrases heart is pure, intentions [are] true with the word sanctity and the word Holly being so close to Holy...

Well, it was a short leap (since it is a Christ-mas icon after all) to link the sacrificed and betrayed tree on the mound of snow to the crucification of Jesus on the hill of Golgotha/Calvary. What nailed the image home, if you pardon that use of the phrase here, was the two live trees planted nearby - like the two legendary convicted thieves  witnessing on either of his sides.

The ornament your tree was hiding may or may not have been your sins to be taken away with the (otherwise) everlasting Evergreen.

Indeed it seems these days we only welcome him back into our homes about once a year. The tree I mean - who did you think I meant?

But thats just me - I'm wyrd that way.

Did that sound preachy? 

Very interesting interpretation Writch, although sadly I must admit I haven't been
to church since my daughter went off to college.